MARGAO: In what is set to be a pulsating battle, bottom placed Sporting Clube de Goa will take on title contenders Royal Wahingdoh FC in a Hero I-League match, at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, here, on Tuesday. The kick-off time is 4.30 p.m.
Santosh Kashyap’s boys will like to win the encounter in order to stay close-on-heels to league leaders Mohun Bagan for the title race.
Sporting Clube were recently held to a 2-2 draw by fellow Goan outfit Dempo Sports Club, while Wahingdoh were involved in a 3-3 thriller against defending champions Bengaluru FC.
The teams had clashed in the Federation Cup in January where Sporting Clube won 2-1, but when the two sides met in the I-League in February and Wahingdoh won 2-0 that day.
Jackichand Singh is the leading scorer for Wahingdoh with four goals while Sporting Clube captain Anthony Wolfe has also netted four time so far.
Wahingdoh are currently third in the standings with 21 points from twelve matches, while Sporting Clube have six points from the same number of games but are yet to taste victory in their campaign.
Jackichand and Satiyasen Singh have been enterprising on the flanks. While Densil Theobald has been orchestrating the moves from the middle keeping their forward line of Beekay Bewar and Kim Seong-Yong busy, Loveday Enyinnaya and Lalchawnkima will hold fort at the heart of defence. Moreover, Reagan Singh, Godwin Franco and Samananda Singh have all donned colours of The Flaming Oranje and it will be interesting to see how they perform.
“The last time we played against them, we have beaten them but that does not means we should remain complacent but instead need to remain more focus against struggling Sporting Clube who are capable of beating any team on the given day,” said Wahingdoh head coach Santosh Kashyap.
“They have two good foreign strikers and will come out hard at us in search of their first win and we need to guard them well and keep on playing to our potential to collect full points,” stated Kashyap.
Sporting Clube head coach Mathew Costa was disappointed with his team’s defenders and the goalkeeper, who let in soft goals.
“We gave good account in the last match against Dempo, creating lot of scoring chances and were cruising for our first win after leading 2-1 until but our defence let us down conceding a late goal. I know that the pressure is building on us to save relegation. A couple of victories from now on will put things on the right track,” Costa said.
